The business and culture of our digital lives, from the L.A. Times

Teen 'iOS hacker' says he can access Spotify in unsupported countries

July 29, 2011 | 12:20
pm

The teenage hacker who unlocked Apple's iOS 5 software just one day after it was released to developers is at it again, and this time he says he's figured out a way to bring the music service Spotify to parts of the world where the service isn't offered yet.

Mert Erdir, 17, of Turkey, tweeted this week that he'd found a way to access the highly sought-after music service in unsupported countries and was willing to share the method with his followers on Twitter.

Spotify is a popular European music service that recently launched in the U.S. and has so far been well-received.

The service gives users access to a large catalog of music for free with advertising, or with no advertising for $4.99 a month, or for $9.99 a month with no ads and access to music from a smartphone.

But despite the hype and high demand for Spotify, the service is so far available in eight only countries.

Erdir, however, said it wasn't a "big deal" accessing the service from an unsupported country. Using a proxy site to change the access location on the Web, Spotify can be tricked into thinking a user is accessing from one of its supported countries. But an invite is still needed for this method, Erdir said in an email.

"This is by far the best free streaming option!" Erdir said in his tweet.

Spotify said it had no comment regarding Erdir's method to access Spotify, and it has not announced any plans to continue expanding its service to other countries.